


Harry Potter and the Mystery of the Fifth House

by viking3ggs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adopted Children, Background Relationships, Black Hermione Granger, Half-Breed Characters, Half-Naga, Half-Vampire, Harry Potter Next Generation, Indian Harry Potter, Korean Draco Malfoy, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Original Character(s), Other, POV Harry Potter, POV Original Character, Past Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Professor Draco Malfoy, Professor Harry Potter, Professor Hermione Granger, Trans Character, Trans Draco Malfoy, Trans Female Character, Trans Harry Potter, Trans Male Character, Wands, anyways i should stop adding tags, au where everything is to my liking and i actually get to enjoy the story, i also refuse to aknowledge the canon of the cursed child b y e, no wait here's a couple more, special wands though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-08-24 01:03:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16629914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viking3ggs/pseuds/viking3ggs
Summary: There once was a fifth house, founded by a pair of twins alongside the other four founders... Unfortunately, it was lost to time over the years, then never heard of again.Well, that is until the 2018-2019 school year for Hogwarts. The school for sure would never be the same after this...*   ~   *   ~   *He turned to the paper in his hands, calling out the next student.“Phoebe Fernandez.”A curly haired girl with bangs walked forward. Her eyes were big and curious and she sat down. Harry lowered the hat onto her head and just as it barely touched her head it screamed the house name.The entire hall fell silent.





	1. Glitter Slime and Sorting Ceremonies

Harry glared down at his now green-dyed, sticky, glittery hands in mild distaste. He had no idea _why_ Bernadette _insisted_ he make this for her while she and her other father were out school shopping for her second year, but he supposed he had no room to complain. It kept the 12-year-old quiet and preoccupied while he did his job, after all… Although, it’s a wonder how _Draco_ managed to make this stuff every three weeks for her.

The fireplace grew a bit behind him, a slight change in ambiance and the sound of 2 sets of feet tapping onto the hardwood floor, signaling that his husband and daughter were home.

“But daddy, that wand was perfect for me!”

“Bernie, we’ve been through this! You _have_ a wand.”

Harry snorted as he heard her stamp her foot down indignantly, turning his head to see the dark-skinned, platinum blond, green-eyed angel he knew as his daughter, pouting and crossing her arms. Her cheeks were puffy as she held air in them and her brow was furrowed in mock-anger as she glared up at Draco.

“Aw, she gets that from you dear.”

“She absolutely does not get that from me, she gets it from you. You’re the hot-headed one.” Draco jabbed a finger in his direction, narrowing his gaze at him.

Harry gasped and put his hand against his chest immediately, feigning offense, “ _Draco Lucius Malfoy_ !” Harry stood up, hand still on his chest and mouth agape with his chest puffed out, “I thought you were my _husband_ , Draco! Me? Hot-headed? _Never_ in my life-” he gestured dramatically at everything around him, then at his husband, “-would I have imagined _you_ of all people would have the _audacity_ to call me hot-headed!”

Draco almost rolled his eyes so hard they went into the back of his head. “I cannot believe I married an idiot…” he put his head in one of his hands, rubbing his temples as a mischievous grin spread across Harry’s face. At this point, Bernadette was glaring up at Harry, appearing to be very unamused by her father's acting.

“Papa, this isn’t funny. Daddy won’t get me the wand I want.”

Harry’s smile faded and he looked at Draco, “You took her into Ollivander's?”

“She refused to leave until we went in there. That place is practically a candy shop for her, you know that. She gets her bloody stubbornness from you.”

He knelt down in front of her, “Bernie, you have a wand already. Why would you want to go in there?”

“I know, but… something about my wand feels weird. Like- it isn't the TRUE wand for me. Yeah, it likes me and all, but...” Her voice faded and her father kissed her forehead gingerly.

“It's alright, Bernie. I understand, no need to talk about it. How about we go browse some wands for Christmas instead? That way, if you change your mind and decide to keep your old wand, we won't have to get you a new one. That's long enough of a wait to figure it out right? Now come on, sweetheart… How about you pack your things so I can drop you off at Aunt Pansy’s? Daddy and I need to be at Hogwarts by tonight so we can start preparing our lessons for you and your classmates in a couple weeks.”

She ducked her head, shuffling her feet as she kept quiet and nodded, not wanting to argue with her father about it. As much as Bernadette loved Aunt Pansy, she wanted to spend more time with her parents before school started.

“If it makes you feel any better, she told your daddy and I that you’re allowed to bring Fluffy.” He said softly.

Her eyes immediately lit up at the thought of bringing her pet with her for her stay at Pansy’s and she nodded excitedly before rushing off, a spring in her step, giggling the whole way to her room.

“I will never understand yours and Bernadette’s relationship with that damn thing.”

“Fluffy’s her best friend, Draco… And a great conversationalist.”

The blond raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms as he eyed Harry with a questioning glint in his eye. “You actually have conversations with it? What about? Politics? Boys?”

“You wouldn’t understand. It’s a Parselmouth thing.” He waved his hand in dismissal and Draco gave a disgruntled huff. Amused, Harry walked over to where Draco still stood in front of the fireplace. He placed his hands on Draco’s elbows, coming in closer, “Hey, if you could speak the language of any animal in the entire world and it just so happened to be a snake, do you really think people would understand? I mean, snakes don’t even have lips, let alone mouths like ours or voices, so it’s not like they can make ‘real words’. It’s gonna sound weird to you since you can’t do it, but if you could, you would understand.”

“Why are we having this conversation, Potter?”

“Foreplay.” He hummed, a playful smile coming on his face. Draco rolled his eyes, pushing Harry's face away, pretending to be annoyed by the man. “I just wanna snog a bit.” Harry insisted and leaned in towards Draco again, who snorted as a smile finally twitched on his lips. Harry’s lips pressed against Draco’s, which were soft and smooth, and tasted vaguely of sugar. Draco, of course, gave back the gentlest kisses he could to Harry, who was grinning all the while, not allowing Draco to give a proper kiss that wasn't against his husband's teeth. Something felt… weird.

As Harry attempted to reach up and grab his hair, Draco took a step back when he saw the mischievous look in his husband’s eye and held him back with one hand, preventing him from getting another kiss.

“Oh, come on Draco- I just wanna get some kisses in before we have to drop Bernie off.”

“Bullshit, Potter. What are you-” before he finished his sentence, he was staring at Harry’s still glittery, goopy, green dyed hands. “... You didn’t.”

“I did.” He admitted as Draco quickly looked at his elbows and gasped.

“Harry, you bastard! This was a new shirt! And then you tried to touch my _hair_ with your filthy goopy hands?!”

“Whoops.”

“You’re dead to me.”

“Aw, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve said since we were 4th years.” Harry cooed.

Before he knew it, Draco had slipped off the shirt and thrown it directly at his face, “Fix this while I go get a different one, you complete imbecile.” Draco snapped, voice dripping with venom. Turning on his heel, the blond stalked off to their bedroom, clearly fuming.

Harry sighed dreamily as watched him walk off. “What a jerk. Can’t even take a joke… I love him.”

Whilst Draco retrieved his other shirt, Harry took his wand to the poorly-made slime that now ‘stained’ the sleeves and removed them. By the time he returned, he’d even folded it and placed it on a chair and was now cleaning up his slime mess on the table.

Draco softened his gaze and sighed aloud, causing Harry to look up. “Sorry, hon.”

“‘s okay, Draco. I should have known better than to do that.”

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have been so mean about it.”

“Well, you had every right to though. You thought I ruined your new shirt.”

Draco nodded, “Yeah, that was pretty dick-ish, but still. I should have been a little… kinder.”

Harry raised his brows at the word, “Draco Malfoy? Being kinder? A land loving muggle marrying a merperson that lives in the Mariana Trench is more likely.”

Draco reached down and slipped off one of his shoes. He was about ready to throw it at him, but refrained from doing so, because as he was about to, it clicked with him that Bernadette now stood in the entryway to the living room watching the two of them, a gigantic white and cream colored serpent draped over her shoulders and a trunk sitting beside her.

“I’m ready to go to Aunt Pansy’s.”

“Great! Lemme just finish cleaning this… You’ll have to ask her to help you make some slime this time, sweets. I failed absolutely horribly when trying to recreate yours and your daddy’s masterpieces.”

She grinned brightly at that and Draco chuckled, walking over and taking her hand, “Alright, let’s get you a snack before you have to leave then, darling.”

 

 

 

Bernadette's arrival to the school was followed by most of her other classmates. Unfortunately, some of her friends weren't returning, but that's okay. Once she got her things all unpacked, including her massive anaconda's enclosure, her and the rest of the students all headed out with her.

“Ya know, Fluffy is essentially Slytherin's mascot by now.” A brunet with thick rectangle glasses, Andreas, pointed out casually, their tone amused. “He's practically spoiled by us all and he uses literally everyone as his personal heaters.”

She laughed, “Your snake does the same!”

“Yeah, but Tigerlily stays in her terrarium, and she's only a red-tailed boa. She's not _nearly_ as big as your snake and she never tries to get out.” The older student countered, raising their eyebrow and crossing their arms.

“That's what you think.” Bernadette grinned.

“The girl who talks to snakes and has more snakes than other witches and wizards for friends knows my snake better than me? Should I even be surprised?” They snorted.

“There's gonna be more than just one girl who can talk to snakes this school year. I bet she's gonna be sorted into Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, though.”

“You mean like one of the two houses _I_ should have been sorted into?” As the group of students rounded the corner she laughed at their comment.

“I still don't understand why the sorting hat put you in our house!”

“I was told I have more ambition than any Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff its ever seen, and more of a leader than I would like to think.”

“Well, the hat got the leader part right, but ambition? You have less ambition than an uncooked Christmas goose dinner.”

“You're tellin’ me.” They crossed their arms, growing slightly bitter about their sorting.

Bernadette sighed and patted Andreas's shoulder in understanding.

“So who's this new student that can talk to snakes?”

“I'm not telling. It's like- outing her pretty much, and that's not really appropriate. It's her choice to reveal she's a Parselmouth, not mine to make for her.”

“True, true…”

“What's this about Parselmouths?” A Japanese boy came up from behind the two of them, which startled Andreas and caused them to jump a little.

“Hey Alex,” Bernadette said casually. “It's nothing really just someone being sorted into another house is gonna a Parselmouth like me.”

Finally, at the Great Hall, they went inside and all sat at their respective tables, still conversing.

“That's cool.” He hummed, “At least people aren't treating it like a dark trait anymore… ever since your father started casually speaking it and using it publicly here and junk, it just sort of became… Your father’s language, ya know? Like, it’s a gift in India, a blessing really. To be able to speak the same language as snakes and junk. There it’s the best thing a kid can be born with, but here it was so taboo and wrong for people...”

“Yeah.” Bernadette frowned.

“He fixed it for you. For everyone who would come after him. People around here aren’t going to see it as a symbol of darkness anymore because of him.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot about my dad…” She looked down at her hands. As much as she loved how much people loved her father, she heard the opposite about her other dad. Most of what she heard was negativity, cruel words, profanities and people discussing whether he should be trusted or not.

Then what she heard about herself was worse. So many arguments about whether or not she would turn out a good girl or some dark wizard, especially because she'd ended up in Slytherin like Draco.

“What about my other dad?” she quickly asked, visibly tense.

“Er… he's pretty cool too… Definitely cooler than my father.”

Cool. Right… Of course… Well, better than saying he's “scum” or something else.

She relaxed a bit and took a deep breath. The sorting would begin soon, and hoped that all the attention would be directed to the new students instead of her.

 

 

 

There’s always a special feeling when arriving at Hogwarts, especially for students. Whether it’s the first time for someone, or it’s been many years since they were last there, they all have one thing in common, and it’s the excitement that’s rolling in their bellies, the butterflies ready to burst from them as they take their first step on school grounds. It’s a wonder how all the students, regardless of year, seem absolutely awestruck upon arrival.

Greeted and led to the great hall by Harry, the older students all sat in wait to see where their new peers would all be sorted. Minerva sat at the center of the long table that stood behind the hat, which sat on the stool where students would soon be sitting.

“Stand and wait along here, please, everyone.” Harry directed, gesturing to the spot between the house tables and the high table as the students all began grouping in front of him. “Now before we start, Professor McGonagall would like to say a few words to everyone.”

As the older witch stood up and gave the regular spiel about the forest and corridor the students weren't allowed to down, which Harry didn’t listen to of course. He’d heard it billions of times and it’s not like it really mattered to him anyway; he was a member of the staff.

He absently opened the parchment in his hands and spoke once she was finished speaking.

“When I read off your name, come forward. You will sit down and I’ll place the sorting hat on your head, then you’ll be sorted into your houses.” He said, lifting the hat off the stool as he spoke the first name. “Imperia Granger.”

A freckle-faced, dark-haired girl stepped forward, flashing a nervous smile to Harry as she had a seat on the stool. Hermione’s daughter had really glowed up since he last saw her, and her canines weren’t nearly as sharp as they had initially been. Perhaps she’d helped charm her teeth to look less threatening? He glanced over to where the Arithmancy professor sat, waiting anxiously for her daughter to be sorted.

The hat made a few comments, even complimenting her on something he couldn’t quite hear, then it finally shouted, “RAVENCLAW!” and the house’s table went berserk, cheering loudly.

A bright smile popped on her face and she bounced onto her feet, cheerily rushing to the table her house sat at, where an older student pulled her close and gave her a noogie.

“Azure Swete.” Two blond haired children, who seemed almost identical, looked between each other and the girl pouted before looking forward and stalking up with her nose held high. She daintily sat down on the stool and Harry placed the hat on her head. She took a lot longer than Imperia, but after a few moments the hat shouted, “SLYTHERIN!” and a smug grin came across her face as Harry removed the hat and walked to the Slytherin table, where everyone was waiting and cheering. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Bernadette as roll her eyes and just smile at the new member of her house.

“Cerulean Star.”

The boy who Azure had pouted at, stepped forward and had a seat on the stool. Another “SLYTHERIN” only much more quickly this time. A grin spread across his face and he jumped up to run over to where the girl sat with the other Slytherins.

“Richard Lee.”

A cinnamon haired boy with pigtails nervously stepped forward and had a seat, his head down and staring at his hands. This time there were some conflicts between which house he would be in until the hat shouted, “GRYFFINDOR!” and everyone from the table screamed, a ginger-haired 3rd year being the loudest of all with the screaming, a big grin on his face. The new student stood, curtseyed in silence to Harry what he believed may have been a thank you, before turning away and walking to the table with his head low as he tried hiding his face.

Harry frowned. He’d talk to them later.

He turned to the paper in his hands, calling out the next student.

“Phoebe Fernandez.”

A curly haired girl with bangs walked forward. Her eyes were big and curious and she sat down. Harry lowered the hat onto her head and just as it barely touched her head it screamed.

_“OCTAVAL!”_

The entire hall fell silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, long time no see! you may remember me from my other harry potter fic (that i may or may not have abandoned) or one of my other fanfics. anyways, this is your invite to harass me on tumblr because i love talking to you guys and always appreciate being able to talk about my AUs
> 
> https://vikingeggs.tumblr.com/
> 
> fair warning the chapters may get longer as i write!


	2. A Temporary Solution

“Harry and Hermione.” the two of them turned their heads to look at Minerva from where they new sat on either side of her.” I believe it would be best if we kept Miss Fernandez in the Gryffindor girls’ dormitory until further notice.”

When Phoebe’s house had been called out, the staff invited her to have a seat amongst them while the feast commenced, so she was given a chair to sit on between Filius and Draco, who seemed to be having a pleasant conversation with the girl- who didn’t speak much but seemed to somehow answer everything even without words.

“Yes, that may be for the best,” Harry said, glancing over at her to see her reaching in her robe to sheepishly show Draco and Filius what seemed to be a medallion. Whatever it was, the two of them seemed impressed by it, as Draco raised his eyebrows and Filius adjusted his glasses and took a closer look at it. He wondered silently what it may be before Hermione’s voice interrupted his thoughts

“I’ve never even heard about this so-called ‘Octaval’ house.” Hermione complained, “And I’ve read just about every book written about Hogwarts ever published. Not a single one has even implied that there were more than 4 founders. Who the hell would this fifth founder be? Are we sure the hat just isn’t dysfunctional? Or maybe a certain son of mine decided to prank us to show he’s been getting better at magic.” She crossed her arms. She wasn’t even eating the food she’d dished for herself.

“Impossible. That hat has been here since the founders and its enchantment is stronger than any magic that’s tried to toy with it.” Minerva said casually, “If the sorting hat has sorted her into a house we have never heard of, there must be a good reason. The house it speaks of _must_ exist. If it didn’t then it wouldn’t have sorted her there.”

Hermione just huffed and glared down at her meal stubbornly.

“Careful, Hermione. You’re going to burn holes into your food with a fiery stare like that.” Harry teased.

“Oh, shut it, Harry.”

He chuckled as he brought a glass to his lips, taking a long drink of the juice inside.

“I’m going to speak to our newest Gryffindor as well.” He commented. “Poor thing looked like he was going to implode on himself.” His eyes surfed over the room full of students, tapping his foot absentmindedly. He looked at each of the students that had come up before Phoebe in though.

His eyes first landed on Hermione’s daughter, Imperia, over at the Ravenclaw table. She was cheerfully conversing with another girl, Amara Alvi. He couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face, as she seemed to be enjoying her conversation with the other girl.

“Looks like a certain someone found a friend, Hermione.”

“Hm?” the bushy-haired woman tore her glare away from her untouched food to look where Harry was. She gave a big smile, “Well, she’s found someone like her. Of course, she’s going to make friends.”

“Like her?” Harry furrowed his brow, thinking.

“Don’t think too much on it, you dunce. You’re gonna hurt yourself by thinking that hard.” She scolded, before adding casually with a wave of her hand, “She’s half naga, remember? And Amara is half vampire.”

Harry frowned. Right. He always forgot Imperia was a half-breed.

“Oh, it’s alright Harry. You’ve known her since she was 5, of course, you’re going to space that. It’s not like it’s really important.”

“I mean, it kinda is. She has some pretty rich heritage from one of her parents.” He pointed out, “Nagas are like India’s version of Centaurs. As much as she tries to hide her fangs, I can see it in her eyes that she desperately wants to embrace the blood her biological parents gave her.” He thinks back on that that he, Imperia, and Bernadette all had a nice long conversation in Parseltongue over dinner while Draco just stared at the three of them in annoyance.

Hermione sighed, once again interrupting his thoughts, “Yes, that’s true.”

“Why on earth are her teeth even charmed like that anyway? Not even Amara bothers with her teeth, and she’s one of the most well-liked students in this school by her peers.” It then dawned on him what else she may be hiding and he gasped, “Did you charm her skin so her scales on her would be hidden too?”

“What? No! Don’t be ridiculous. That’s _dangerous_ for someone her age to have cast on her! She’s too young. Besides, the charm for her teeth will wear off in a few days and she’s not having it put back on her after that. She’s just testing the waters for now.” Hermione waved her hand.

Harry eyed her for a moment then looked back to where Imperia sat, still talking with Amara. “No doubt she’s going to excel in Astronomy and Divination…” He mumbled, leaning into his hand as his eyes looked for the other students he’d called up.

“Of course she will. I wouldn’t expect anything less of her than doing fantastic in those classes.” Hermione’s voice faded to the back of his head as his gaze fell on the two Slytherins who sat on either side of Bernadette, talking her ears off about something. The poor girl seemed disinterested as she poked at her food. The two younger blonds kept shooting glances up at where Phoebe sat. All she was doing was eating her meal quietly and politely as she listened to the two Professors beside her.

“Those two seem to be talkin’ poor Bernie half to death.” Hagrid piped up casually.

This started Harry, and he turned his head to Hagrid, who was watching the two of them as well. He looked like he was pitying the girl.

Harry looked back and cringed. They weren’t even taking breaths between words. It was like they were word-zombies. “Yeah.”

“Oh, those two?” Minerva spoke up, her tone amused, “Yes, their families were living in the same household when I went to bring them their letters. A very strange duo, those two are. They asked me hundreds of questions in one go without a single breath. I’ve never met two children with that much energy.”

“They aren’t related?” Hermione sat there with her mouth agape. “They look identical!”

“Cerulean comes from a Chinese-English family. Azure, on the other hand, comes from a Chinese-French one. I believe both or one of the two are a metamorphmagus.” She replied.

“They both have names that are shades of blue though.” Harry pointed out.

All Minerva did was shrug it off and return to eating her food.

Finally, Harry turned his attention to Richard Lee, a small frown forming on his lips as he watched the boy pick at his food in disinterest while the other students at his table kept trying to speak to him, which he simply ignored. He worried something was wrong until he heard Draco speak up, finally turning his attention to the other professors, “So what are we going to be doing with our new student here?”

Clearly, he hadn’t been paying attention to what they’d all been saying since he was speaking to Phoebe and Filius the entire time.

“We’ll start by having Miss Fernandez stay in the Gryffindor girl’s dorm for now,” Minerva told him, a bit louder so everyone at the table could hear- which extended to all the students, who began murmuring about it. The most hurried whispers came from the Gryffindor students, who were vibrating with excitement.

“ _But_ , to keep her from getting mixed up with the other houses, she will be required to wear plain black robes until further notice.”

“And what about this… Fifth house?” Draco queried, curiosity getting the better of him. Then again, the whole school was bound to be wondering with him…

“There will be a staff meeting tonight regarding her house.” She replied plainly. “In the meantime, Professor Granger and I will be collecting as much information as we possibly can to get a better understanding of this house. We will speak with the hat first, then go from there.”

Everyone at the high table nodded and murmured in agreement to her plan.

 

 

 

Once the Slytherins made it back to their common room, she whipped around and looked at everyone, “A fifth house! There’s a bloody fifth house at Hogwarts and we never even knew it!”

“How is that even possible? We’ve only ever seen the four we know about in history books and all other written works!” One of the fifth years complained, crossing her arms and getting an strained look on her face, likely trying to think of anything she may have looked over in her research.

“This _is_ strange. Very strange, indeed…” Alexander said, becoming a bit concerned, “What if there are more houses that we don’t know about? O-or things written out of our history books like the school- or-or-or-”

“Wait!” Andreas piped up, everyone suddenly turning their attention to them, “I think I may have read the name somewhere in my books. I can get them.”

“... Alright, let’s talk about this then- all the first years need to unpack their things in their dorms. Andreas, I’ll wait outside your dorm while you get the books.”

The crowd dispersed, going to their own dorms. Bernadette walked over to the dormitory they stayed in, standing right outside it as she waited. While she stood there, Alexander came from the boy’s dorm and walked over, leaning against the wall beside her.

“Ya know, your friend is weird.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “Andreas is just nervous. They aren’t from here.”

“You think that isn’t obvious? He-”

“ _They._ ” she corrected.

“... _They_ might be a pureblood, but they act like a total freak, and their accent is _so_ obviously fake! They sound nothing like either of their parents.”

“Well at least they’re trying.” she snapped back, furrowing her brow as he continued to speak.

“Maybe-”

“Now, how about you make like a bee and buzz off, you insufferable git?  I’m tired of hearing you run your mouth.” Bernadette’s tone became harsh, something out of character for the normally friendly girl.

Alexander immediately shut his mouth, glared for a moment, turned on his heel, then walked away angrily. As much as Bernadette really cared for him, Alexander was being so snobbish lately… Maybe she should talk to him about it later. Get him to loosen up a little bit. He’d do that for her, right?

As soon as Alexander had disappeared back into the boys’ dorm, Andreas walked out of their own with some books in their hands and a triumphant grin on their face. “Time to do a little research!” They said cheerfully.

“Oh boy.” She sighed heavily before smiling, “Alright, let’s do this then.”

Andreas handed her two of the books and the both of them went and sat down on one of the couches in the common room. She looked over the first book in her hand that read, ‘The Letters of Salazar Slytherin: A Complete Record’, flipping it open with a sigh. This was gonna be a long night, she supposed, resigning herself to her self-inflicted fate.

Most of the reading was boring, Bernadette didn’t really find anything that sounded even remotely sounded like the house name. She did, however, find a saucy love-letter exchange between Salazar and a girl he’d met when he was much younger. She snorted, covering her mouth and trying not to laugh at the contents of the page.

“Is that the love letter-”

“Yes.”

Andreas rolled their eyes, then leaned towards her, passing her the book they had, pointing to a passage on the page. “This is a copy of Godric’s journal. I never really noticed until now that he’d referred to a pair of twins that he was working with on something, the Octavals.”

“Well, we found the founder, but which of the twins is it?”

“I dunno. A lot of journal entries were lost due to damage on the original journal from a strong magical fire… But! There’s something in here I recognize that I didn’t think about before. The thing they were working on. It was a crown that Odyssey created herself.”

“What about it is so special?”

“It’s enchanted with something similar to the sorting hat, making it sentient, only it doesn’t speak and it just the intelligence of Odin and Odyssey instead of 4 people. It doesn’t mention why, but I could recognize the sketch of the crown from anywhere.”

She furrowed her brow and looked at the doodle on the page before it slowly dawned on her. She’d always wondered what the hell that crown was all about and now she was about to find that out.

The two of them turned their heads up to look at one-another and Bernadette grinned.“The crown in the library display case.” They both said at once.

 

 

 

“‘I most certainly did not sort her into the incorrect house’.” Hermione mocked bitterly as Harry finally arrived to the meeting in his own classroom. “That bloody hat- I swear!”

“What’d I miss?” He asked, a little bit embarrassed that he’d been 10 minutes late to the meeting. “I just finished helping my first years settle in.”

Draco looked at him, “You missed the most important bits.” He said dryly, “We just finished hearing Hermione complain about the sorting hat, but I guess we’ll have to hear it again.”

“Yes, you do.” She said, tone saltier than the Dead Sea.

Harry pulled up a chair and sat down as Hermione started to speak.

“There was supposedly six founders-” She started, but was immediately cut off by Harry’s first question.

“So we have _six_ houses?”

“No. Let me finish before you begin jumping to conclusions, Harry.” She said, “There was supposedly six. The other two founders, Odyssey and Odin Octaval, were a pair of twins who founded the fifth house _together_ . The two of them were extremely picky when it came down to the strongest traits their students had. When picking the students for this house, the bloodline and personality traits affected the choice they made very, _very_ greatly sometimes. More-so than any of the other houses.”

“What are the traits then?”

“Control, reliability, elegance, and modesty. If you didn’t have even one of these traits that totally trampled all the other house traits, you were _not_ going to get into the house, which made it rare for new students to be sorted into the house..”

“Well, it was rare, but now it’s just _unheard_ of. Why did people stop getting sorted into the house?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head, “Something about the number of people with those desired traits becoming more scarce until it stopped seeing those traits as strongly in other students as it used to… Or whatever other dumb reason the stupid sorting hat gave. I dunno, I genuinely didn’t want to pay attention. It was just spewing shit.”

“It was likely because the students all knew the possibility of getting into the house was slim and others stopped trying to better those traits over time.” Minerva finally offered. “I spoke with the portraits and all of the older ones said they hadn’t heard the name of the house spoken in centuries, not since the founders ‘disbanded’ it after a year or so without students.”

“So why has it sorted her into Octaval then if the house was disbanded?”

“They didn’t want to attempt damaging the sorting hat’s enchantment by removing the parts of the magic that Odyssey and Odin put into it.”

Harry nodded in understanding, thinking, “And I highly doubt the hat is going to say what other houses she’d be a good candidate for.”

“Already tried that. It stated, and I quote, -” Hermione began mocking the hat again, “- ’becoming a member of the Octaval house is a great and desired honor and she is a no better candidate for any other house than that of the twins. My choice for her to be sorted into Octaval is final. I most certainly did not sort her into the incorrect house’.”

Harry snorted, “Well, you tried.”

“Obviously not hard enough.”

“Yeah yeah. Well, what are we going to do about this then?”

“Well, we’re going to start by trying to find where the Octaval common room is… That’s where we will find her house robes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is your invite to harass me on tumblr because i love talking to you guys and always appreciate being able to talk about my AUs
> 
> https://vikingeggs.tumblr.com/
> 
> comments are always encouraging and do in fact make me want to write more of this fic, so i always appreciate them!! <3  
> also, just a fair warning, future chapters will sometimes be more focused on Bernadette's POV and some will be more focused on Harry's POV!


	3. Answers To Be Searched For

“Let's say Professor Malfoy is a dark wizard and I'm merely a student attending Hogwarts. He comes towards me in a fury, intending to cause me bodily harm. What magic do I use, and which spell?”

Someone piped up, but Bernadette wasn't paying attention to either of her parents at the front of the classroom. She had her nose buried deep in a notebook, writing furiously. A week had already passed since the sorting ceremony, and she and Andreas had been researching non-stop, trying to figure out what that crown in the library was all about. They had attempted to take a look at it with permission but were instead given a harsh ‘no’ then sent back out.

Of course, there was no way the two of them were listening, _especially_ not Bernadette. She may be a Malfoy, but it's best to not forget she's also a _Potter_. There's no doubt that she's going to misuse that invisibility cloak her father gave her.

Pausing for a moment, she thought of a good strategy to get out of the dorms while everyone was asleep tonight without anybody seeing her pull out the cloak and put it on.

Bernadette jumped a little in her seat when a Hufflepuff beside her tapped on her shoulder. She looked at him and he pointed towards the front of the room. She turned her head to find her parents staring at her.

“Are you going to answer the question, Bernadette?” Draco asked, receiving a sheepish smile from his daughter.

“I-I'm sorry, sir. What was the question again? I was taking notes…”

“Name three or more spells you can use to deter someone’s ability to use a curse on you.”

“Well, um… Expelliarmus would knock the user’s wand out of their hand.”

“Good.”

“I believe Stupefy would knock the opponent down?”

“Yes.”

“And Protego can uh…” her voice faded, “It can… cast a shield?”

“Correct. Now, as much as I understand the fact you’re writing notes, I would appreciate it if my own daughter with pay a little more attention to her parents when they’re teaching a class.” Her father’s voice was calm, but icy.

The girl’s face and ears grew hot and she ducked her head with embarrassment, looking down at her hands in slight shame. Bernadette knew her father could see through her lies, but at least she was trying to make it seem like she was a good student, and that she wasn’t plotting to break curfew with her friend to find out what some random crown is supposed to do.

She resigned herself to paying attention for the rest of the class period, feeling guilty for getting caught not paying attention to her parents’ lesson.

Once she actually paid attention class seemed to go by much slower. She simply stared off at them, only watching their movements and blinking when her eyes felt dry. She still _clearly_ wasn’t listening to them, but in her parents' eyes, it was much better than nothing. As she stared off at them, something nudged her elbow and she looked down to see a note neatly folded with elegant cursive writing that said her name. She raised her brow, looked around in confusion, before opening it while both Harry and Draco turned to the board to write on it.

 _Do you love me?_ _  
_ _Yes / No_ __  
~A. Macabur

Her face flushed and her cheeks became a bit red. She glanced back up at the two, who were still writing, then back at Alexander, who was diligently writing in his notebook (he technically wasn’t even in  the class, he just regularly skipped his own class and snuck in). She bit the inside of her cheek, frantically checked one, then sent it back to him.

Of course, she would do that. What else would she do with it?

The class ended a bit more quickly and she packed up her things. She had a break now between classes that she wanted to use to do a little more research. Just as she started out the door, she heard Harry clear his throat.

“Bernadette, could you hang back a second, please?”

She stood stiffly, not moving as others passed around her. When the classroom was empty, she slowly turned to look at them both. The look of disappointment on both their faces made he recoil slightly, and Draco sighed softly.

“Darling, you’re failing this class already and it’s not even a week after the first day. You’ve struggled with this topic since your first year, we get it, but we shaped out the curriculum to try and accommodate your needs as well as your peers. How are you still not keeping up?”

She shuffled her feet a bit and both men looked between each-other before looking back at her.

“Is it Phoebe Fernandez?”

She became still immediately, horror dawning on her. Oh, shit, her parents were onto her. They had to know what was going on now.

“There’s really nothing to worry about, Bernie. She’s doing very well. She’s making plenty of friends here.”

The girl then relaxed, sighing. They didn’t know about her plan, so she may as well play along, “Really?”

Harry smiled. “Of course! We’re currently in the process of looking for her house uniform. As much as the press would _like_ to interview the staff and her as well, they haven’t been able to get through to us.”

“Thank god, for that.” Draco huffed, “I think you and I had enough of the press up our asses when we publicly came out and said we were getting married.”

“Everyone thought you hexed me.”

“Of course they did! Our relationship wasn’t exactly public until after I proposed and you announced it to the damn world!”

“It wouldn’t have been public if you hadn’t decided to-”

“Er… Papa, daddy? Can… I go now? I have to study…”

“Oh, right. Yeah, of course, dear.” Draco smiled down at her, smacking his husband’s side gently telling him that they’d continue the conversation later. “Just try a little harder for us in this class. You’re a brilliant girl, Bernadette. I don’t want you falling so far behind you can’t even make a boggart look silly.”

“Er- right… I’ll try harder.” She turned on her heel then bolted out the door to find Andreas. She hadn’t any clue where they may be, and she was thinking of where they could be waiting for her when she ran right into someone. She fell back on her ass, then apologized profusely as she helped clean everything up when a familiar giggle sounded above her. She looked up to see a freckle-faced witch. She blushed when she saw the fondness in Imperia’s rosewood color eyes, and her ears grew hot as the girl pulled her to her feet.

“I-Imp, I’m so sorry I ran into you-”

“No worries, my friend. I was actually coming to look for you.”

“What- why?”

“Your friend Andreas was asking for you and thought I may know where you were since you and I know each other and all. Well, I mean, they were sort of right. I was thinking your parents held you back in the classroom. You always did complain about how they would do that last year in your letters to me…”

She laughed a bit, “Yeah, well, they did hold me back in there. So where’s Andreas?”

“The library.”

“Thanks, Imp.” She said, beginning to walk past her before being grabbed by her sleeve.

“You think you’re gonna be the only one hanging out in there researching? I’m coming with.” She said.

Bernadette made an exasperated noise but linked arms with her best friend, walking down the corridor with her. She didn’t say anything the entire time, but Imperia couldn’t stop speaking, continuously going on and on about how immersive the potions and charms curriculums were, and how fascinated she was with herbology and the varieties of plants they had. She simply listened on, happy to know her friend was enjoying herself at Hogwarts. She even mentioned that when she tried to go up to the girl's dorm for the first time, the door refused to budge for her, which resulted in her coming out to her Head of House as fluid. Of course, just like Andreas had been, she was shown to her own dormitory where she could stay with another two students like her. Yet another thing to be proud of Imperia for.

Once inside the library, they found Andreas, who was sitting and reading a book intensely. Reluctantly, the two of them sat down beside them.

“I don’t get it. I’ve tried to find info on the damn crown since we found out about it. I can’t think of anything that could possibly make any sense!”

“Hey- relax, don’t stress yourself over this.” Bernadette frowned at how panicked her friend appeared to be over this one topic, “Man, you really _were_ meant to be a Ravenclaw.”

Andreas pouted as a tall ginger came up from behind them. The Gryffindor student dropped a large stack of books beside them with a loud smack, and they yelped, nearly falling out of their seat.

“Benedict Fred Weasley, you son of a bitch-! You scared the bejeezus out of me!” Andreas scolded, balling up their hands into fists and turning red as the other three started laughing.

“Aw, does the poor grumpy noodle want an apology kiss?” He teases, taking a seat down across from them.

“I’d sooner kiss a cursed toad that’ll turn me inside out than kiss you.”

“Ah, you’ve always been one for endearing words.”

Andreas rolled their eyes so hard it looked like they would go right into the back of their head. Benedict, or Ben as he preferred, snorted in amusement.

“Careful, you don’t wanna roll your eyes so bad that you strain something,” Bernie warned them.

“Yeah, yeah- whatever. What’d you find, Ben?”

“An element book, a regalia book, something about minerals and the mystic arts or whatever, and a book that looked like you might find use out of.”

“Thanks, you’re such a doll, Benny.” They drawled in a degrading thick American accent, dropping the fake British one they’d been holding for the past week.

“Even dropping that posh façade for me? You really shouldn’t have! We haven’t even gone on our first date yet!”

“You’re goddamn insufferable.”

“Impy tells me that all the time. Must mean you _really_ love me!”

Andreas gave a disgruntled huff then turned their attention to the new books before them. “Alright, we got four people here. How about we pair up and look together at books. It’ll cover more area and we’ll get more information out of it. That okay with you three?”

Bernadette and Imperia looked at one another with a smile and nodded, “Yeah, works for me.” The second-year said happily.

“That means I’m paired with you!” Ben said, voice full of cheer.

“Oh, great.”

 

 

 

Harry sat within Draco’s office in his husband’s chair, holding his currently shirtless husband close as he sniffled. Harry’s hand trailed over the scars that littered his lover’s back, watching as the tears dripped down onto his lap. One of his arms pulled Draco up a bit further so he could be sitting in his lap and Harry traced his hands along the right beneath his pectorals where two more scars lay.

“I can’t believe you waited so long to get it done, Draco…” Harry’s tone was a gentle, but stern comfort for blond.

“I was scared…” He admitted, wiping away some of his tears, “I… I wanted to get it done the same way you did Harry. Without magic and all… The same way muggles transition.”

Harry gave a fond, gentle smile, pressing his lips against Draco’s for a brief moment before pulling back, “You want me to join the shirtless show, or should it be a one-person party?”

He snorted and Harry took that as an invitation to slip out of his robe from where he sat before unbuttoning his waistcoat and shirt, shrugging them off. He closed his eyes as Draco’s hand felt Harry’s own top scars, before moving his hands around, running his palms over the other raised bits of skin that Harry had. His hand made it’s way all the way to Harry’s face after trailing his skin. He brushed his hair aside and ran his thumb over the scar on his forehead, leaning in close and kissing softly.

“You’re a disaster.”

“You’re one to talk,” Harry mumbled, wrapping both his arms around him and holding him closer, “So, what’s with you and wanting to do it like me and muggles? Getting the procedure done was taking forever, and the transaction to exchange all those galleons for muggle money took ages to finish. You were so determined to do it the same way as me…”

“I-I dunno, Harry. When I went to our family doctor for a consultation, she offered magical procedures that would take less time to get done- and less time to heal- and not leave scars- and- I just-” Draco started to get choked up over it and Harry cupped his face, wiping away his tears gingerly.

“Take a deep breath, love. It’s alright. You don’t gotta explain yourself.”

“It just felt right, Harry. Especially after everything I did to you when we were kids- it felt like it was a way to bring us closer, make us less different, make me… feel like less of a selfish prick. I know we joke about the way I treated you, but it still…”

“Draco-”

“Don’t, Harry.” He leaned in close again, pressing his lips against his husband’s. Harry relaxed, combing his fingers through his husband’s hair. They lingered a few moments longer like that before the two of them broke it off simultaneously. “Your hair is an absolute unruly disaster, Potter.” He tugged lightly at his dark hair.

“Hey- ow! Stop that!”

“Why? What are you gonna do, _Potter_?” Draco teased.

“I’m gonna-”

The light tapping of a knock cut Harry off mid-sentence and he stood up as he walked to the door, giving Draco a solid 10 seconds to pull on his husband’s robe and turn away from the door so whoever it was couldn’t see any of his scars. Harry, of course, was unashamed of all his scars. Draco, on the hand, had his reasons to feel shame about his own.

As the door swung open Harry was greeted by the face of his fellow Gryffindor, Hermione, who was shocked for a moment to see him half undressed, before letting the shock fade. At this point, she’d gotten used to seeing him shirtless half the time since he had his top a few years before Bernadette had started school.

“Have you been researching the possibilities of where the dormitories may be?”

“Yeah. The only issue is that nothing is coming up, not even with the paintings. It’s like someone wiped their memories of where the common room would be.”

“That’s a bit suspicious… Nothing about relics either?”

“Nothing that I’ve read or has come up with the paintings. Maybe asking some of the ghosts may help us?”

“Hm… Yeah, I’ll try that. Thanks, Harry.” Hermione smiled at him tiredly before turning.

“Oh, and Hermione?”

“Yes, Harry?” She lingered just a moment longer.

“Don’t stay up all night researching after classes are over for the day. You still have a class to teach in the morning.”

Hermione snorted and just went on her way without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was a bit more bernadette centric, and trying to establish next gen characters that are important <3 but i hope i made up for it with that drarry at the end!!
> 
> this is your invite to harass me on tumblr because i love talking to you guys and always appreciate being able to talk about my AUs  
> https://vikingeggs.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> this fic also now has a blog where fan-works of this fic can be reblogged!  
> https://thefifthhouse.tumblr.com


	4. The Crown of Odyssey

Bernadette waited until the rest of the girls in her dorm had all fallen asleep. She watched as the last of them drifted off and started to snore softly. The girl bit her tongue as she reached beneath her bed from where she was laying, pulling out a small trunk then tugging it onto her bed. She knelt in front of it, unlocking it as quietly as she could. Bernadette reached inside, pulling out the recognizable fabric of invisibility cloak her father gave to her. 

A smile played on her lips before she turned her head in the direction of where Fluffy was sleeping in his massive terrarium. She put the trunk back under her bed without locking it and stood up, pulling the cloak over her head. She was not going to put on shoes, it would much too loud.

So as she settled under the cloak, she walked towards his terrarium, kneeling beside it and speaking to him.

_ “Fluffy. Hey, wake up buddy.” _

The serpent lifted his head, turning it to look in the direction of his girl, sensing and hearing her there.  _ “Yes?” _

_ “I need you to go lay in my bed while I sneak out… I can’t have anyone thinking I’m gone. If you hide under the covers for me until I get back, I’ll bring you a nicer meal than what you usually get.” _

_ “If you promise to bring back a nice boar for my next feeding, you have a deal, girl.” _

_ “I promise.”  _

The massive albino anaconda began slithering to the door of the terrarium, sliding it open with his own nose before slinking out and towards her bed, where he climbed atop it and went under the sheets, making it appear as though she was still resting there, but with her head covered.

She’d done this many times before, so Fluffy learned fairly quickly how to make it believable so she could sneak away. With a final glance to her sleeping roommates, she snuck out of her dorm and into the Slytherin common room, where she quickly found Andreas hiding behind an armchair. Of course, she snuck up behind them, slipped off the cloak, grabbed their sides, then covered their mouth quickly so they wouldn’t scream. 

Once realizing it was just her, they swatted her hands away, and whipped around to glare at the second-year, “What is with you and Weasley scaring me like that?” They whispered, their voice barely audible over the gentle crackling of the fire that was still going from earlier.

“It’s funny!” She giggled, before getting a bit more serious, “Now come on, we have to get to the library. Let’s get that crown on one of our heads and see what it says.”

They nodded and Bernadette pulled the cloak over the both of them before they began leaving. During their research further into Godric Gyffindor’s journal, they’d read somewhere about the crown again, but this time it spoke of the fact it told riddles to those who sought knowledge of subjects specific to the castle… Hopefully, none of the teachers had figured it out before them and got to the crown.

Making their way down the corridor, there were suddenly footsteps ahead. In a panic, the both of them hid behind a pillar. Right as they did, familiar voices became clear.

“-she’s a brilliant and talented student, she could be a great Ravenclaw.” Her father, Draco.

“But she’s so resourceful and has the potential to be a great leader. Certainly, she’s a Slytherin.” Granger.

“She has the makings of a wonderful Gryffindor, Miss Granger.” Flitwick.

“Oh, but she’d be a brilliant Hufflepuff, Filius. She’d certainly fit that house the most.” Her other father.

“Now, now you four… You know we cannot just sweep aside our tradition for the sake of making things easier on us.” McGonagall interrupted, “She’d fit any and all these houses, but the hat has chosen her for a fifth. One that, while it may be missing currently, will one day be unveiled to the world and put to proper use.”

“I hope you’re right about that…”

“Yeah.”

As the voices and steps all faded, in the distance once more, the two of them rushed to the library. Once seeing they were both alone, they removed the cloak from themselves, Bernadette slinging it over her shoulder. 

“Alright, do you remember where that crown is?”

“Of course I remember! I passed it every day on my way to the library’s alchemy section. Come on now, let’s get a move on!” The older Slytherin ushered her toward the back of the library, then veered off to the right with her. They stopped abruptly upon finding an elegant, rose gold crown with intricate patterning of the tentacles of an octopus and black gemstones in a display case with many other magical objects.

“You know the case was enchanted to stay locked, right?” Bernadette quirked an eyebrow. 

“Of course I know that!”

“How are we getting into the case then?”

“There’s a password. It was subtly hidden in the journal, but I found it. It should unlock the case if I do it.”

“What’s the password then?”

They reached in their pocket, withdrew their wand and pointed it at the lock on the cabinet. The end of their wand produced a pale light and they spoke the password. It was three separate words.

“Spera. Fidem. Secreto.”

The lock on the case jiggled for just a moment before unlocking, opening slowly to the two students. They looked at each other, then at the crown.

“Bernie, I think you should put it on.”

“What? Why me?”

“You’re the one who started this goose chase.”

“Ugh, alright, you got me there.”

Bernadette timidly grabbed the crown off the shelf. It was pleasantly warm and inviting, radiating with magic as she reluctantly raised it to her head. She lowered it on and there was immediately speaking. The gentle voice of a Scottish woman sounded in her head.

_ “Hello, child. My, my. It’s been a while since a student has placed me atop their head. And I’m seeing so much information flying past as well! You come from a very rich and culturally diverse family history my darling and goodness, all this information about what you wish to know is coming in waves!” _

Bernadette stood still, awestruck and listening to the voice.

_ “Well, I do have a rule, dear. I can tell you what you wish, but only in form of a riddle. You’re seeking the entrance to the House of Octaval, yes, and I can tell you where it is, indeed, but first you must answer me this- and only you may answer the riddle.” _

“What’s it saying?”

“I have to answer a riddle.”

_ “You will find what you’re looking for through this, do not worry your pretty head.” _

“Do you need help?”

“She won’t help us if I don’t answer it on my own.”

“Alright, but hurry. I don’t wanna get caught-”

Andreas’s voice was drowned out by the one within her head speaking.  _ "You can find me in the dark, where I sing songs of aether. And you may write me notes of love with a feather. My hair shimmers like stars, and my patterns are bizarre. I'm familiar but unknown, and I'm within your zone. I'm older than you'd know, but you’ve never seen my show. You'll know me when you see me, what am I?" _

Bernadette started thinking about the riddle, putting her head in her hands and blocking everything else out while she thought. It’s familiar but not known, and it’s older than her but she’s never seen its show? So far it sounds like she’s definitely looked at it before, but she’s never known what it does- or maybe what magical properties it has? It’s in the dark… And… it sings? What the fuck does that mean? Is it some sort of magical owl? No, it can’t be. It has  _ hair _ , and birds don’t have hair! 

She really was struggling before pieces started falling together. The crown had said it’s in her zone. It was in the library.  _ Dark _ . It was in a dark area of the library, alright, okay. She may be on the right path.

Wait, sing, notes of love, hair, patterns… This wasn’t describing a living breathing animal, it was describing an  _ instrument _ ! One she knew. The harp in the darkest end of the library, not too far away from where they currently were. The hair wasn’t  _ hair _ , it was the shining strings of the silver harp with the patterns of sea creatures sculpted into it!

“The harp in the library!” She looked at Andreas, her voice a shocked whisper.

_ “You are correct. For answering my riddle correctly, you may have the password to enter the emptied dormitory. Play the following notes on the harp and the entrance will open to you.” _

“Andreas, do you know how to play the harp?”

“Er, yes.”

_ “G, C#, E, E#, G. Thank you for playing along with my dear, and do try not to cause trouble now.” _

Bernadette thanked her internally before placing the crown back in the cabinet before shutting it carefully, turning to her friend. “Let’s go.”

Andreas and she quickly tiptoed over to where the harp stood tall and unaging from its centuries of disuse. Walking up to it, she placed her hands on the harp, feeling the same warm, magical energy that came off it. Inviting her to play as her fingers traced over shining amethyst stones that were embedded in the metal.

“Alright, you need to play the notes as I tell you, got it?”

“Uh- alright.” Andreas stepped up beside the harp, fingers plucking the strings as each note came from her mouth.

“G, C#, E, E#, G.”

As soon as their finger released the final note, two torches that stood tall beside them suddenly lit up with a purple fire that faded to a rosy-yellow, before becoming a normal shade of oranges and yellows. The bookshelf that stood behind the harp split in two as hidden doors disguised as bookshelves slowly opened for them. They stared in amazement at the massive banner that hung just beyond the doors of the house. The crest was shades of purple and lavender, accompanied by rosegold. The animal proudly presented on the crest was an intricately crafted octopus design. The two of them swallowed hard, intimidated by just the entrance to the room.

When they suddenly heard someone clear their throat behind them. Spinning around like a blender, they were faced with the impressed, and yet somehow disappointed face of their headmaster.

“Miss Malfoy, Mx. Weiß… As much as I’m impressed with what you’ve done tonight without the help of any staff, I’m afraid you’re in very big trouble. 100 points will be deducted from Slythern. 50 points each, due to you being out of bed, wandering the corridors, and entering the library past midnight.”

The two of them both hung their heads in shame, shuffling their feet.

“Your parents will be sorely disappointed, Miss Malfoy…”

Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach in an instant.

 

 

“Merlin, she should have known better yesterday! She’s lucky she even gets to participate in Quidditch at this point!” Draco snapped, absolutely furious with his daughter.

“She’s probably the fastest seeker in the houses, so it would be like punishing the whole of Slytherin if she wasn’t allowed to, dear.” Harry reasoned with his husband, placing a hand on his shoulder, “She and her friend already lost the house 100 points because of their little adventure,  _ and _ we confiscated the cloak. I think she’s learned her lesson, especially since the other Slytherins are giving her and Andreas the silent treatment…”

Draco gave a  _ ‘Hmph!’ _ and stuck up his nose snobbishly, still upset and not wanting to acknowledge that. Even after years of spending time with him, Draco was still the stuck up pureblood he’d always known. “I can’t believe her… I thought she knew better.”

“She does, but she’s still her father’s daughter.”

“The hell does that mean?”

“It means she has a bit of the both of us in her. Yes, she’s a Malfoy first and foremost, but she’s also a Potter, Draco.” Harry said, “She’s probably going to get into a bit of trouble like I did when I was younger.” He wrapped his arm around his waist, tugging him closer to press a kiss against his cheek. Now Draco was just pouting, which brought an amused smile to Harry’s lips, “You know I’m right.”

“Yes, but I hate that you’re right. Our daughter might turn into an insufferable git like you.”

“But we’d be  _ your _ insufferable gits.”

Draco rolled his eyes as he heard a knock on the door of his office. “I suppose so.” He sighed heavily, opening the door to find the most exhausted Hermione he’d laid eyes on standing before him with a tired first year by her side standing in a nightgown all-black school robes, rubbing her eyes.

“I’m sorry to bother you this late-” Right, it was 8:30 at night, wasn’t it? “-but Phoebe heard about your daughter finding her house common room from one of the other girls. I would take her myself, but I stayed up until 5 in the morning to prepare this weeks project… Would you mind taking her?”

“Certainly, Hermione. I’m sure Harry would be more than happy to take her back to the dormitory after we show her.”

Hermione gave a tired smile to them both, patting Phoebe's shoulder in reassurance that she was in good hands before walking away.

“Miss Fernandez, please, come have a seat. I was going to make tea before you came. We’ll leave as soon as I’ve had mine.”

She nodded quietly, walking over to an open chair and sitting on it. She waited patiently as he brewed the tea.

“Have you been enjoying your time here, Phoebe?” Harry asked, smiling.

She nodded.

“It seems like it. You’re doing very well in mine and Professor Malfoy’s class so far. Just about as good as Amara Alvi.”

She looked down shyly at that, her voice coming out in a soft tone, “I try my best. My mother is a very intelligent witch and my other mother is a muggle detective…”

Harry smiled, “I would love to meet your parents sometime soon, Phoebe. Can you tell me more about them?”

She smiled a bit, “W-well… My witch-mum came from a long line of purebloods from Scotland. My muggle-mum is a Spanish immigrant that comes from a long line of royals. They’re very refined and friendlier than you would expect, especially my witch-mum, she’s funny and loves playing with new charms and potions- and-and-and-and she taught me how to charm this!” She grabbed the medallion that hung from her neck and held it up for him to see. 

Harry started to reach for it but stopped himself, “May I?” He asked politely.

“Certainly, Professor Potter.” 

He held it in his hand, turning it over a few times curiously. It was gold and shined brilliantly. A square of it looked like it could slip away from the metal, but when he ran his thumb over it, it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s been passed down on my mother’s side of the family for centuries… Every person who’s owned it before me charmed it themselves with something different, just to add something special to the metal. To keep it beautiful and shiny for eternity.”

“What’s the square do?” He asked as he let go so his husband could hand him and Phoebe a couple cups of oolong.

“I was wondering the same when you showed Professor Flitwick and I the first day.”

“Oh, here, I’ll show you what it does.” She reached down into her sock, taking out her wand and tapping the square three times with the end of it. After she did so, the wand lit up with a purple light for a moment. The light went through the cracks between the square and the rest of the medallion, and slowly it slid away to reveal a hollow interior. “If you look inside you’ll see creatures that live in the Mariana Trench, some magical, some undiscovered. Once I saw a merperson.” 

“Did you do this charm?” Draco asked.

“No…” she admitted, “The first person who ever owned it did. According to my mother, he’d been known for being the family odyssey. Insisted people do the same as him and charm the medallion as the generations came and went.”

“Very interesting.” Draco nodded slowly.

She closed it back up. They finished off their tea and Phoebe yawned after having her last drop of it.

“Alright, let’s go.” Harry stood up. “Draco, you can lead the way, I’ll make sure she doesn’t fall asleep on the way there.”

“I won’t! I refuse to sleep until I’ve seen the common room.” She insisted, following both the professors as they walked out the door.

Draco smiled and Harry laughed softly, leading her along towards the library. After Bernadette and Andreas had been caught the previous day, they learned that the crown was the one who gave the password and the harp was how they’d gotten in, so of course, they had Andreas tell them how to unlock the cabinet (which hadn’t been touched in centuries until they opened it), and spoke with the crown itself. It ended up explaining that it gave riddles, and if someone guessed the riddle correctly without any help from their peers, the crown would give them the password. The crown was directly connected to the harp as well, and it would change the password regularly like all other entrances did, even during all those centuries without use.

So, upon coming to the harp, she furrowed her brow in confusion, “Where is it?”

“The harp opens the entrance to the common room,” Draco explained.

“I can play.” She immediately said, beginning to vibrate with excitement, “Is there a password? What notes do I play?”

Harry reached in his pocket and withdrew a slip of paper with the notes and handed it to her. It wouldn’t be fair to not let her open it herself. It was  _ her _ house after all.

She looked at the notes on the page, and as soon as her fingers touched the strings the torches immediately lit and the entrance slowly opened for her. Both Harry and Draco looked between each other then at her, utter confusion crossing their faces. It hadn’t even waited for the password to be played.

As soon as the doors were fully open, she ran into it, the two of them following her quickly. As soon as they were in the open common room, they looked around in shock at everything that surrounded them. There was so much to take in.

The common room had water features, with a pond in the middle and a small fountain shaped like an octopus that held torches in four tentacles, and spouted water from four of the others. There were no windows, and instead, it had banners, with what was the house crest, that was hung high and proud on the walls above them. The furniture was beautiful with a royal purple, velvet fabric. The walls were stacked to the ceiling with even more bookshelves filled with novels that were unread for many years, as if the common room itself was its own library. There were even paintings there, speaking amongst themselves pleasantly before realizing that there were new people within the room. 

The paintings looked excited to see new faces in their common room, and Phoebe immediately turned to Harry and Draco, delight in her eye, “I want to sleep here tonight! I wanna wear my house robes! I want to stay here the rest of the school year and study and-and-and-”

“Woah, slow down, Phoebe. We have to run it by Professor McGonagall before we can let you do that.”

“You would need someone to stay in the dormitory with you as well. I don’t think McGonagall would be okay with you sleeping in the dorm alone-”

“Rebecca can join me!”

“Again, we need to run this by  McGonagall, Phoebe.” Draco insisted.

She frowned and settled down, looking at her feet. “Yes Professor Malfoy.”

Harry frowned as well and looked at Draco, “But-” he turned his head back to look at her. “-I can look for your house uniform with you while he goes to clear it with McGonagall.”

“Really?!”

“Yes, really.”

She rushed up and threw her arms around him, giving him a tight hug.

“Miss Fernandez!” He yelped, surprised by her reaction.

Draco just covered his mouth with his hand, snickering a little at the both of them.

“Thank you so much, Professor…”

Harry smiled a little, “Oh… You’re welcome…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is your invite to harass me on tumblr because i love talking to you guys and always appreciate being able to talk about my AUs  
> https://vikingeggs.tumblr.com/
> 
> this fic also now has a blog where fan-works of this fic can be reblogged!  
> https://thefifthhouse.tumblr.com


	5. New Facts and Tragedies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **small contet warning:** there's a description of a dead animal in this chapter.

After Draco had returned from speaking to the headmaster, there was a mutual agreement that Phoebe shouldn’t spend the night alone in her dormitory. So once they’d found her house robes, they led her back to the Gryffindor tower instead of leaving her in the Octaval library to wait. 

Harry sent her upstairs to get Rebecca, knowing all too well that the girl was a night owl. Phoebe came rushing back down the stairs with the girl in tow, a bright smile on both their faces. Rebecca had been the ‘Richard’ child he’d sorted the first day. Deep down, Harry wished that she would have told him that wasn’t who she was, but knew it wouldn’t have been that easy for her. From what he’d come to understand, her father wasn’t  _ exactly  _ the most accepting of her. He’d nearly kept her from coming to Hogwarts when he found out she was a witch.

“Alright, girls. Now, we have to go get someone willing to stay in the library with you for the night. We can’t have you staying in there on your own.”

“Yessir.”

“Alright, Professor.”

“Draco, can you go ask around? I’ll do the same on the way back to Phoebe’s dormitory.”

“Of course.” Draco pecked his cheek and turned away, heading in the opposite direction.

Harry started to walk, leading the two of them to individual offices where other professors worked. Of course, many of which were either sleeping or too busy with work to stay in the Octaval library. 

“Well, perhaps Draco will find someone willing to stay with you girls.”

“I hope so!” Phoebe’s eyes went wide, “I wanna be able to stay in my dorm for the rest of the school year!”

Harry thought the idea was a bit of a reach, but he knew she was still going to try… Besides, it wasn’t his decision to tell her yes or no on that. He wasn’t the one who called the shots at Hogwarts, that was Minerva. If he did call the shots, he’d let her stay in the dormitory for the rest of the school year.

Once in the common room, Rebecca looked up and around the space in awe. “This is… This is amazin’!” She said, looking at her friend. Harry had never heard her speak before. She’d only ever communicated through writing. He supposed he could understand why; the girl was painfully American. She had a very thick southern accent.

“I know, right? It’s absolutely splendid! I love it in here.”

Harry smiled, “Well, you two should go find the girl’s dormitory and settle in for the night.”

“Yes, Professor!” They both said at once, Phoebe grabbing Rebecca by her wrist and running off with her. 

Once the girls had disappeared down a corridor, Harry turned to start looking at all the books that were stacked on the shelves. They were ancient things, dusty and untouched. Perhaps he would send elves into the library later to clean it all up.

His fingers ran over the spines of the books as he moved, looking them all over when his eyes landed on one particular book. He stopped in his tracks and stared at it.  _ The Art of Defense Against Dark Magics _ , written by Odin Octaval. He slowly slid it out of it’s space on the shelf looking it over curiously. The book was made of a deep cranberry leather, with words debossed with silver. He opened it, delicately paging through it. There were chapters based on lower level and higher levels of magic, and an entire three pages dedicated to the craft of the Patronus spell.

One of the paintings piped up, “Harry Potter!”

He turned up his head quickly to see the moving image of a blond, bearded man with a damaged eye and wearing purple robes. He smiles at Harry, who looks surprised he knows his name.

“I’m Odin Octaval- or, at least, the portrait of him… Word has spread very quickly from painting to painting, even those of us hidden away darkened areas that were once abandoned. Word that my house has been reawoken- and the damning evidence that it’s true by you being here… Bringing one of my students.”

“Didn’t you have a sister?”

“Indeed, I did.”

“Where is her portrait?”

“Her office, of course. No doubt, she too has heard the news. Odin had left much knowledge to me. He spoke to me every day before he and his sister mysteriously vanished.”

“Why is this important?”

“Well, he told me that after all those left in our bloodline had left Hogwarts, nobody would be sorted for centuries due to a curse put on the house by one of the students who’d left.” He frowned, “And when our descendant returns to Hogwarts, she will be sorted into our house. But when that happens, bad things will take place over time and new students will be brought into the house from the other houses, to fix what is broken… But once it begins, hell will break loose, and there will be no escape until the descendant of the one who cursed this house is sent to Azkaban, or  _ killed _ .”

The color drained from Harry’s face and he looked down at the book in his hands. “I suppose this should come in handy then, right?”

“Indeed it will. I think it would be an even better idea if you began to train your students to use the Patronus spell early on. The one who’s going to bring darkness to this school… They are  bound to bring dementors, or maybe they’ll have the ability to conjure something much much worse. You and your husband have your work cut out for you, Harry Potter… Make the best of it.”

He heard two pairs feet walking into the room and he turned quickly to see Draco returning with the alchemy professor, Divina Grádorcha. She smiled at Harry-- which always gave him a sinking feeling in his stomach --and folded her hands in front of her, her Welsh accent loud and clear as she spoke. 

“Professor Potter, it’s very kind of you to let one of your Gryffindors stay with Miss Fernandez for the night.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t want her to be lonely when she wakes up.” Harry said slowly, walking over to Draco, “Come on, let’s get to bed, dear.”

“Of course. You’ll find your way to a bed, right, Grádorcha?”

“Certainly. It won’t be too hard.”

“Alright, you have a good night, ma’am.”

“And you too.”

Harry and Draco turned away and walked out the entrance, the door slowly shutting behind them. Harry still had the book in his hands, which his husband seemed to notice.

“What’s this, dear?”

“Part of our new curriculum.” Draco, shocked by this, opened his mouth to question him but Harry interrupted him , “We need to talk to this once we’re alone in bed, Draco. Something is going to happen, and this school needs to prepare.”

Draco’s look became solemn and he nodded in understanding.

 

 

 

Early in the morning, Bernadette woke up and got ready for the day, but noticed very quickly that something wasn’t right. Nobody was in the room, not even Fluffy, who was normally resting on someone’s bed.

She frowned and quickly threw on her robe, rushing out the door of the girl’s dormitory and to the common room, where she was shocked to find everyone circled around staring at something on the ground and murmuring grimly amongst themselves. They didn’t even notice her.

“Hey, what the hell is going on you guys?” Everyone turned their heads and looked at her. Some of them were still mad at her and Andreas, but others looked mortified and as though they pitied her. “What are you all…” Her voice faded as her eyes slowly fell on what they’d been staring at.

There, in the center of all the other Slytherins, lay her snake. He was unmoving and had bites taken out of him by something smaller, something the size of a fox. He’d bled out and died while everyone had been asleep.

No, she refused to believe what she knew had happened. He can’t be dead, not because of something that small! He can’t be- he could have easily eaten it! He could have killed it so quickly. She refused to acknowledge any of this scene as real, even with the evidence laying there, bloody and mangled before her very own eyes. It had to be a prank, it had to be an illusion. The other students had to have made it look like something bad happened to get back at her for making them lose house points. 

But she knew that wasn’t true. No Slytherin would pull a prank so cruel and dastardly on her. Not even any of the first years would, and they barely knew her.

She shoved everyone aside and quickly knelt beside him pulling out her wand as she tried to heal him. Everyone just stared at her, and she looked up at them all, a fiery anger in her eyes as tears welled at the corners. “What the fuck are you staring at?! Go get help- go get my father! We have to save him!” She screamed, causing multiple Slytherins to flee.

The feeling in her gut as she tried healing him was unbearable. Nothing was working, and her belly became heavy with what felt like ice and fire burning and freezing every bit of her. She sobbed out as many spells as she could possibly remember, her hand shaking violently as she did. The common room was so very cold, but her blood was boiling with the fury in her veins . She was going to kill whoever, or whatever did this to him. She was gonna- she was gonna-

There was a gasp of horror from above where she sat kneeling beside the anaconda, “Bernadette! My god- Bernadette, what happened?!”

She quickly turned her head up to see her father, sobbing so hard that every bit of her shook when she let one out. She got to her feet and flung herself into his arms, “He’s dead, daddy- he’s dead-! Please- please help him I don’t want him to be dead- I don’t want him to be-” She buried her face in his cloak.

Draco’s hand gently ran up and down her back in a comforting motion, gaze softening for his daughter.  “Shh… Let it all out, dear… You can stay here with me…” He soothed, his voice straining and holding back the tears that he wished to share with her, “Everyone else, head to your breakfast.”

He stayed there with her as the other students all left, opting to comfort his daughter instead of head to breakfast. Once they were alone, tears began falling down his cheeks and he sniffled, “Are you hungry, Bernie?” His tone was gentle, keeping quiet so he wouldn’t break down entirely.

She shook her head, looking at her father and sniffling. “No- I’m lonely-”

Draco frowned. Fluffy had been her best friend since she was old enough to speak his language. In a way, he’d been her big brother. Protecting her and keeping her company, even when Draco and Harry couldn’t.

“You can stay with me for the rest of the day, alright? You don’t need to go to any of your classes, and I won’t make you go to any of them. I promise.”

“Really?’

“Of course.”

She hugged him again, burying her face in his cloak once more. “Thank you daddy- thank you- thank you-” She sobbed out. She eventually calmed down enough to help Draco clean up Fluffy, sliding his robe off his shoulders and wrapping up the serpent in it.

Bernadette knew that whatever killed her snake was dangerous, magical. Whatever it was likely wasn’t going to stop with her snake- something that had been much bigger than it. She was going to kill whatever it was for taking away one of the things she held most dear.

 

 

 

Harry and Draco stalked into McGonagall’s classroom after lunch once they convinced Bernadette that she should study alone while they attended a meeting with the headmaster. Immediately Harry snapped, “Minerva, we have a big problem.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“When Phoebe Fernandez was sorted into Octaval, that was the start of bad things happening. Everything that the portraits and paintings told you was wrong or something. When I went into the common room- I spoke with Odin Octaval’s portrait. Everything he said- Merlin,  _ McGonagall _ , this is bad.”

“What are you going on about?”

“The house wasn’t disbanded, it was  _ cursed, _ ” Draco said.

“Just like the position to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts was by Voldemort!” Harry added.

“The reason why students weren’t sorted into it is that the curse caused sorting for the house to be removed until someone in the Octaval bloodline returned to Hogwarts.”

“And many students in our own houses may be Octavals themselves and not even know it!”

“Are you implying that Miss Fernandez is a descendant of one of the twins?”

“We’re not implying it, we’re  _ saying _ she is!” Harry said, “And since she’s returned, bad things will start happening, and all hell will break loose. We have to prepare immediately for this.”

“What sorts of bad things?” She frowned, furrowing her brow.

They immediately spoke at the same time and Minerva had to get them to quiet down.

“One at a time.”

“This morning, after learning of this last night, our daughter’s pet was found deceased.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t just natural causes?”

“I’d like to know what could cause something to be ‘naturally’ torn to bloody pieces.”

Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates and she spoke slowly, “This is the same serpent that nearly ate one of the acromantulas, correct?”

“Yes…” Harry nodded.

“And whatever it was had to be the size of a cat or a fox.” Draco added, frowning.

“... Take me to Odin’s portrait immediately. I must speak with it before my next class.”

“Harry-”

“I’ll take Minerva, Draco. You go back to Bernadette. Please.”

His husband nodded and swept out of the room. This year was going to be a wild ride for the three of them… But what else was new? He was Harry Potter, something was bound to happen eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is your invite to harass me on tumblr because i love talking to you guys and always appreciate being able to talk about my AUs  
> https://vikingeggs.tumblr.com/
> 
> this fic also now has a blog where fan-works of this fic can be reblogged!  
> https://thefifthhouse.tumblr.com


	6. Pressures and Mischief

The entire atmosphere of Hogwarts changed drastically within the time between Phoebe beginning to stay in her own dorm, and the time that Hogsmeade visits drew near. Bernadette would be seeing all her older friends leaving for the times of their lives, while she stayed behind with other students. 

“Hey, I’ll get you something while I’m at Hogsmeade. What do you want?” Andreas offered their friend with a kind smile. When she’d lost her best friend, they’d been one of the first people to come to her aid and comfort her.

“W-well… I don’t want you to get  _ me _ anything, but I do want you to pick up a gift for someone.” She said quietly.

They raised their eyebrows in curiosity, “What’s that then?”

She bit her tongue, leaning to whisper in her friend’s ear, “I need you to get as many marshmallows you possibly can, and a bunch of chocolate as well. It’s for a gift that I’m working on to give to Imp… Her birthday is coming up.”

They nodded, grinning at that, “Sounds like a delicious gift. I can do that for you. Anything else?”

“Well, there was a pair of clip-on earrings I saw that had gems which changed color depending on the wearer’s mood. I was hoping-”

“Say no more. I gotchya, Bernie.” They patted her shoulder then stood straighter.

She smiled a bit and watched them walk away. She turned her attention back down to a book she was holding in her hands.  _ The Art of Defense Against Dark Magics _ . The same book her father had grabbed from the Octaval common room. He’d given it to her to borrow so she could study, and she really appreciated that. She’d always struggled with Defense Against the Dark Arts, despite being a Potter. It was really worrying to her father, but she promised to try and do better for him and make him proud. She wasn’t going to be nearly as good as she was in Potions, though, that’s for sure…

She’s startled when someone clears their throat behind her. She turns, being faced with Alexander. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Yeah… Uh, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the note I sent. Your reply was-”

“‘No’. Yeah, I know. Look, Alex… You’re nice. You’re the most Slytherin of the lot, you’re very intelligent as well, and I like that but you’re not my type. I’m not interested. I’ve had my eyes set on someone else for some time…” 

“What? Benedict Weasley? He’s a-”

“No, not Ben! He’s like… it’s just weird. I’m talking about someone else, and it’s none of your business.”

“How  _ can _ I be your type?”

“Well, you can start by not being a prick to my friends.”

His face turned red and his hands balled into fists, “Of course. Anything else?”

“Stop harassing me about it too.”

“Yeah, sure, what else?”

“Stop trying so damn hard… Now, don’t you have a weekend trip to go on?” Her tone was icy. If he pushed one more goddamn button, she was going to let out everything that she’d been holding in and use it to beat the snot out of him. She was tired of him bothering her.

He grumbled and stormed off to join the other students heading to Hogsmeade.

 

 

 

.Harry and Draco sat in the classroom, staring down at the tea in both their hands absently. Draco opened his mouth to say something but closed it again when Harry looked up at his husband. “It was a good idea for us to stay here with the students, dear. Thank you for recommending we should. If we left…” His voice faded but he smiled sadly, “Well, whatever… Have you talked to Bernadette today?”

“She’s supposedly coming to our classroom to share some tea. I even picked up her favorite, just to reinforce her wanting to come.”

Harry snorted, grinning, “Of course you did.” He said, before his smile disappeared, “You know we have to talk to her about serious matters though, right?”

“Of course I do.” Draco frowned, looking away, “It’s just going to be so difficult. She’s our daughter, our only child after all, and she just lost one of her protectors a little over a month ago.”

“It’s just the end of October as well. Things are already starting to look bad for the school. Even Ron and Hermione’s son has been bracing himself for what might be coming. He  _ never _ does that!”

“What do you think is coming?”

Harry didn’t reply, he just looked down into his tea once more, thinking very hard. There was a long pause, before he spoke grimly, eyes drawing away from the cup of tea in his hand and to the window where he stared, “I’m not sure.”

“On a scale from one to Dementors, how bad?”

“Maybe it’s worse than Dementors, Draco- and if it is, our students need to be as prepared as they can possibly be. Especially if dementors will be involved.”

“Do you mean-”

“We have to start teaching them the Patronus charm soon. I would like to start next week… Knowing Bernadette, she’s definitely going to struggle, so we’ll need to start training her early.”

“This is insane, Harry.”

“But necessary.”

Draco didn’t argue with Harry because he knew he was right… Of course, he was right. He was right more often than he was wrong nowadays. There came silence after that and they sat there without speaking for a long period, sipping their tea.

Footsteps sounded at the doorway and Bernadette made her way into the room, holding onto her book bag and smiling brightly at her parents, who smiled back at her lovingly. “Papa, daddy.”

“Bernadette.” Harry hummed fondly.

“You look very nice, Bernie.” Draco said, “Is that the new shirt I purchased for you?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” she looked down at it, stretching the fabric slightly to look at the picture of the team crest on it before giving him a sheepish look, “Thanks by the way. Yorkshire is my favorite team.”

“Well, if you don’t ever get better at Defense Against the Dark Arts, at least you’ll be a great seeker for whatever Quidditch team you decide to join.” Harry grinned, making her snort.

“I am  _ not _ doing Quidditch for a living after I graduate.” She pulled up a chair, sitting down with them and dropping her bag on the floor.

“What do you plan on doing then?” Draco quirked his brow.

“Well… I was hoping to be a mediwitch… O-or a master in divination!” She admitted, blushing, “Maybe even become Madam Pomfrey’s apprentice and join her here at Hogwarts.”

“Oh, sweetheart, that’s so nice.” Draco smiled brightly at his daughter and Harry nodded with him in agreement. “You’re already very passionate about keeping your friends safe, I don’t doubt you’ll do beautifully in either profession.”

“Thanks, daddy.” She looked down at her hands bashfully and Draco turned, pouring hot water into a cup for her.

“I got your favorite loose leaf tea, dear.”

Her eyes lit up and she smiled as she watched the dragonwell rose tea turn the water green. “Thank you! I’ve been dying for it since we left home.” She said, before taking it in her hands and slowly pouring it into a teacup, careful not to let any of the leaves fall into the cup.

Harry watched on as his daughter added a lump of sugar, his head throwing around ideas as to how he would do this. Bernadette seemed to notice because she interrupted his thoughts.

“Careful papa. Think too hard and you might strain yourself.” She teased, a smile crossing her lips.

Draco chuckled softly at that and Harry rolled his eyes, smiling a little, “Bernadette, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. It has to do with Defense-”

“Oh, right! I almost forgot! I finished reading the book you lent to me.” She pulled it out of her bag and passed it over. Harry blinked, looking down at it, then back at her.

“I just gave it to you yesterday.”

“Yeah. I read half of it last night, and the rest of it this morning.”

Harry stared for a moment then shook his head, brushing it aside. Of  _ course _ she did. “Alright well, that’s not what I was gonna talk about. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about tutoring.”

She frowned, “Er- tutoring?”

“Yes. You see I…. Well, the school is preparing for disaster, and-”

“What?!” She yelped.

Draco smacked Harry upside the head, “Harry, you bloody git! Don’t go scaring her like that, she’s 12!”

“W-what are you two talking about?” She whimpered, now nervous.

“I- well-” Harry looked to Draco for help.

“You got yourself into this bloody mess,  _ Saint Potter _ .” Draco said, unsympathetic.

Harry cursed under his breath and Draco gestured to their daughter expectantly. He took in a deep breath, “Bernie, you’re falling behind in our class and it’s very troublesome because we’re about to go through a big, possibly dangerous, change. Starting next week, every class will begin a study on the Patronus charm because this change might call for all students to be able to conjure their patronuses, and I don’t want you struggling with it when it comes… So starting now, we’ll be having our own private meetings where you can practice on your own with just me, you, and your father. This is very important to both of us, and we want to make sure you can defend yourself from the dementors if they ever came to be a threat to you.”

Bernadette stared at her father, stiff as a tree as she listened. She nodded slowly, before whispering, “May I finish my tea before we start?”

“Of course.” Harry smiled and Draco nudged his side. “Oh, uh, our first lesson will be recognizing your happiest memory. The happiest, strongest memory you have. It needs to be powerful. So just… Think about that while you have your tea, alright?”

“Yes, papa.”

Once she finished her tea, Harry continued an explanation of the Patronus charm, “Keep in mind, a corporeal Patronus is most definitely the  _ most _ difficult part of a Patronus to manifest. This is an advanced spell after all. But, a shield form should be just as useful to you. If you want your Patronus to protect you, you must keep your focus. Draco, care to demonstrate?”

“Certainly.” Draco stood up and withdrew his wand from his cloak.

“Now, watch as your father does. He’s focused and thinking clearly as he casts it.”

“Expecto Patronum!”

A silver light bloomed from his wand and a hippogriff erupted from it, bounding down to stand beside him, pressing its head against his hand when he reached out.

She stared at her father and his Patronus with her mouth agape. She’d never actually seen his Patronus before, after all, he’d never cast it in front of her. Harry smiled and looked down at her. “A Patronus can also change over time as the person changes. Your father’s Patronus had initially been an ocicat… Well, up until we began a relationship with each other, and he changed as we were together. It’s very impressive, right?”

She nodded, still astounded by the sight of the silvery hippogriff before her that was nuzzling against her father.

“Alright, are you ready to try?”

“Y-yes!”

 

 

 

She’d spent only an hour with her parents while they tried to help her conjure at the very least a shield. Of course, her attempts had all failed. Every time she thought of something, she became so angry and started crying. Her happiest memory had been the day she’d first brought Fluffy with her to Hogwarts. Her parents said she should take a break, but she kept on insisting that she could do it. In the end, they simply had her return to the Slytherin common room to unwind.’

She sat in the common room quietly, staring down at her hands in thought. She had to get control of herself when she was trying to cast her Patronus. She had to  _ at least _ make a shield. Even that would be good enough to make her parents proud of her.

“Miss Malfoy! Miss Malfoy!” The voices of two students started calling out to her and she looked up to see the two nearly identical first years, Cerulean and Azure, smiling brightly at her.

“Oh, hey you two.” She was surprised to see them. She’d thought they’d snuck off campus to go to Hogsmeade with Alexander. They were practically his little henchmen. As soon as they opened their mouths it was hard to tell who was speaking as their lips started making sounds.

“Miss Malfoy, we heard you were trying to conjure your Patronus with your fathers!”

“Yes, yes, and that your father’s Patronus was a hippogriff!”

“Professor Malfoy’s, to be exact!”

She frowned, “Wait- how did you find out so quickly?”

They were both quiet before speaking at the same time, “We were eavesdropping on you because Alexander told us to while he was out.”

She stared at the both of them for a moment before sighing heavily and rubbing her temples, “So he’s turned into a stalker now? Merlin have mercy.”

“Yeah.”

“We didn’t agree to it unless he paid us with something.”

“So he agreed to get us things from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes!”

“100 galleons worth!”

Her jaw dropped and she shook her head, “My god, please don’t become the next Weasley twins. I’ve heard stories from my parents about what they did and I’d rather you not.” She said, a look of concern crossing her face.

They both giggled with delight at her reaction.

“Well, if you pay us…”

“... we’ll leave you alone, then pretend we spied on you the whole time.”

She considered it, “How much are you looking for?”

“Well…”

The two looked between each other, grinning, before looking at her.

“We’d like to borrow your invisibility cloak for a week.”

“Or two!”

“Just while we set up all our pranks!”

“It will only take one week or two!”

“Promise!”

She grew silent, considering it for another long moment, “I just got it back… But, I can make an exception for you two I suppose.”

“Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, thank you, Miss Malfoy!” They both squealed with delight.

“I will come to you later tonight to get it from you,” Azure said, her eyes bright, grinning, giggling.

“Hope that’s alright!” Cerulean added.

Finally, they weren’t talking together or so fast she couldn’t tell who was speaking.

“Of course, you two. Totally fine. Will you leave me alone for the rest of the night then?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Azure nodded.

“We will, we will!” Cerulean added.

The both of them curtseyed to her then ran off giggling with delight. She just stared after them as they left, rubbing her head. Those two really gave a headache. It was a wonder how Alexander managed to deal with the two of them.

Once she’d been left alone for a good while, she thought of what she would do next. Then it hit her.

_ The Octaval common room _ . She’d been meaning to go check it out for a while. She stood up and headed to the library. She was caught off guard when she felt someone grab her sides, making her squawk like a bird. She spun around to see her friends, Imperia and Ben.

“Christ, you two scared the  _ daylights _ out of me.” She breathed, putting her hand over her chest, “What are you two doing? Especially  _ you _ , Ben!” She jabbed her finger at him accusingly, “You’re a third year, shouldn’t you be out at Hogsmeade?”

“I didn’t want to leave my adopted sister here all alone her first year without her big brother!” He pulled Imperia close and gave her a noogie.

“I told you I’d be fine! You should have gone to see your dad.”

“Are you kidding? You’d cause mischief while I’m gone!”

She slipped out from his arms and murmured a ‘big stupid teddy bear’ in Parseltongue.

Bernadette covered her mouth and giggled softly.

“Hey! You could at least be mean in a language I can understand!” He pouted, but Imperia waved her hand in dismissal.

“It’s nothing too mean. It doesn’t matter.” She then turned her attention to Bernadette, who was amused by the little show, “So, where are you headed?”

“Hm? Oh, uh… The Octaval common room… I’ve been meaning to check it out and all, and if Phoebe and Rebecca aren’t in there, I was hoping they would let me in.”

“Oh, that sounds interesting.”

“I heard from my mom that it’s like- the second library,” Ben mentioned.

“Well, it’s time to find out if it’s true then. You guys will come with me if they say yes!” Bernadette declared as she put her hands on her hips.

“Sounds like a plan, Bernie.” Ben grinned.

The three of them headed to the library, heading to the back just in time to see Phoebe opening the room, her Gryffindor friend holding a big stack of books beside her.

“Hey, Phoebe- Becky! Hold on!” Ben went jogging over to them while Bernadette and Imperia walked much more slowly.

“Heya, bud.” Rebecca managed from behind her stack of books.

“Hi, Ben.” Phoebe smiled at him, “What do you need?”

“Well, my friends and I were wondering if we could come check out your house? We’ve been hearing lots of cool things about it from our parents.”

“Oh, of course!” Her eyes lit up, “It’s always nice to have company… And I don’t believe I’ve met these other two yet. Come in, come in!” She grabbed Ben’s hand and tugged him along as the entrance opened all the way, the three others falling in behind the two of them.

Bernadette stared in shock as the common room came into a better view. “Oh my god. This is so much cooler than the Slytherin common room.”

“I know right? This is so cool.” Ben looked around in awe.

“You all should check out the books!” Phoebe let go of him, allowing them to rush to the bookshelves. Imperia grabbed at least 5 books, Ben grabbed 2, and Bernadette gazed over the books, looking along the shelves curiously. Her gaze trailed over rows and rows until she saw one that drew her in. She reached up for it, sliding it he off of the shelf and looking over it. The cover was a pearlescent white with gold writing that changed when the book was tilted a certain way. The title read  _ The Road to Becoming a Magic Medic _ , and when she tilted it, the author’s name showed up as  _ Ursa Black _ . Her eyes glittered and her belly warmed up, filling with butterflies. This book was written by one of her ancestors on the Black side of the family! It had to be!

Just as she opened up the book though, Phoebe shouted, causing her to drop it. She spun on her heel quickly to see Phoebe holding onto Imperia’s wrist. Phoebe was staring at her with wide eyes, and her voice shook as she spoke. 

“You… You need to be transferred to this house immediately.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is your invite to harass me on tumblr because i love talking to you guys and always appreciate being able to talk about my AUs  
> https://vikingeggs.tumblr.com/
> 
> this fic also now has a blog where fan-works of this fic can be reblogged!  
> https://thefifthhouse.tumblr.com


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